“Testing may be the extra mile, but it’s the one that separates the good from the great.“
Salesforce is a powerful platform that drives business growth and facilitates seamless customer relationship management. However, like any complex system, it is prone to errors and bugs. This is where testing comes into play; it is crucial to guarantee that the organisation’s Salesforce deployment operates seamlessly, efficiently, and by its business objectives.
Testing serves as a preventive measure against costly mistakes, mitigates the risk of data loss, and upholds the trust of end customers. In essence, testing in Salesforce transcends being merely a good practice; it is an absolute necessity.
At TechForce, we recognise the pivotal role that Salesforce testing holds in the success of every Salesforce implementation. This acknowledgement drives us to prioritise comprehensive testing throughout every phase of the development process. We aim to guarantee that our clients are provided with a dependable and top-tier solution. Our unwavering dedication to testing stands as a cornerstone of our mission, which is centred on delivering outstanding service and empowering businesses to flourish in the continuously evolving realm of technology.
Testing Methodologies
Let’s look at the types of testing in Salesforce:
A) Functional or Black Box Testing
Functional testing is the first phase of software testing in Salesforce. It takes place after development and involves reviewing each new feature to check for bugs and ensure that the new functionality works as intended.
This involves conducting testing from the standpoint of a user, devoid of any insight into the inner workings of the system. The primary emphasis lies in assessing the functionality and features of the application to ascertain their alignment with the predetermined business and user experience (UX) criteria.
Some examples of functional testing in Salesforce include:
- Application Testing: Testing the functionality of the application involves tasks such as creating records, updating existing ones, and generating reports to verify that they perform as expected.
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Testing the application to ensure it fulfils the user's requirements and expectations involves assessing its functionality, usability, and performance against the specified criteria set by the user.
- Compatibility Testing: Conducting tests across various browsers, devices, and operating systems ensures that the application is compatible with a diverse range of platforms.
- Usability Testing: Testing the application to ensure that it is easy to use, navigate, and understand for the end-user.
B) Technical or White Box Testing
White box testing is also known as clear box, glass box, transparent box, or structural testing. It is different from black box testing, which only tests the end-user experience. In white box testing, testers have complete knowledge of the application being tested, including access to source code and design documents. This in-depth visibility makes it possible for white box testing to identify issues that are invisible to grey and black box testing.
In Salesforce, white box testing involves testing the internal components and functionality of the application. This can include testing individual Apex classes, triggers, flows, and Visualforce pages to ensure that they function correctly and meet the specified requirements.
Some examples of white box testing in Salesforce include:
- Unit Testing: Testing individual Apex classes and triggers to ensure that they behave correctly in isolation and work as expected when integrated with other components.
- Code Coverage Testing: Ensuring that the codebase is thoroughly tested by writing test cases to cover as much of the code as possible.
- Integration Testing: Testing the integration between different components of the Salesforce application, such as Apex code, Visualforce pages, and third-party integrations.
- Security Testing: Testing for potential security vulnerabilities and ensuring that the Salesforce application is secure from external threats.
Tips and Tricks for Functional (Black Box) Testing in Salesforce
Understand User Requirements
- Start with identifying and qualifying a user, which we call personas. This represents a role in the business with a unique set of responsibilities and needs from the system, which translates to access and use cases. The need for this persona can translate to UX requirements that help present information needed and the use of visual cues to draw attention when there is an exception.
- Actions or Use Cases: These are the tasks performed by the persona. In an application, this will constitute the functionality. To ensure the delivered Salesforce application is meeting expectations, the testing must mimic the persona's actions in real business situations.
Test Case for Each Acceptance Criteria
While user stories represent the business requirements needed by a role in the business situation, acceptance criteria represent the business and technical boundaries. Test cases modelled around acceptance criteria and user stories provide the best coverage and mimic the actual business situation.
- Use Realistic Test Data: There is no substitute for realistic test data regarding business scenario coverage. They have the potential to represent the emotional and psychological engagement the actual business user will have with the Salesforce application in production.
- Test Across Different Browsers and Devices: Given the widespread use of Salesforce applications across various browsers and devices, it's essential to validate their functionality and visual presentation across different platforms. This entails conducting thorough testing across diverse browsers and devices to ensure optimal performance and accurate rendering.
- Use Automation, especially in Regression: Automation in regression testing can avoid human errors that come with repetition or familiarity bias; however, the clear winner is the time and effort saved in the process. Regression automation eliminates testing errors and gets the system validated.
Tips and Tricks for Technical (White Box) Testing in Salesforce
- Use Debug Logs: Debug logs provide detailed information about the execution of the code. By using debug logs in the test classes, one can identify issues and troubleshoot errors quickly.
- Gain a Thorough Understanding of the Codebase: To conduct effective white box testing, it is important to have a deep understanding of the underlying codebase. This can help identify potential areas of weakness that may require more testing.
- Test the Impact of the Flow or Validation Rule on Other Areas of the System: Flows and validation rules may impact other areas of the system, so it is important to test for any unintended consequences.
Conclusion
In today’s dynamic business landscape, organisations must harness technology to its fullest extent. Salesforce stands out as a robust tool capable of aiding companies in optimising their operations, enhancing efficiency, and fostering growth. Nevertheless, to unlock the full potential of Salesforce, comprehensive testing is imperative. By testing the system rigorously, businesses can minimise the likelihood of errors, enhance user acceptance, and elevate overall productivity. Over time, investing in testing endeavours can expedite goal attainment and bolster business performance, culminating in superior outcomes.
At TechForce, we deeply appreciate the significance of comprehensive testing in Salesforce. Our proficient team of testers is equipped to assist businesses in meticulously examining their Salesforce systems, covering a spectrum from UI testing to integration testing and beyond. By proactively identifying potential issues, we aid companies in conserving valuable time and resources, leading to enhanced business outcomes. Leveraging our proficiency in both functional (black box) and technical (white box) testing methodologies, we collaborate with businesses to develop Salesforce solutions tailored to their precise requirements.
At TechForce, we are dedicated to helping businesses succeed by providing the highest quality testing services.
